If you have a mother or father over 65, the advice about exercise can be very confusing. And, if you’re confused, imagine how confusing this is for mom or dad.

One doctor says that your father needs aerobics to maintain a healthy heart. That doctor may recommend an aerobics class.

Another doctor says that your mother needs to build up muscle. She needs to start lifting weights.

If mom took a spill on the ice, chances are a doctor is telling you she needs to work on her balance. He’s recommending physical therapy and exercises that involve standing on one foot and shifting weight.

Seniors need to work out their heart, muscles, and balance

Many middle-aged people learn to rely on one quick exercise regime. They go to the gym twice a week, jog a few miles a week, or bike to and from work. And that’s great, but when one is over sixty, one kind of exercise really is not enough to provide well-rounded health.

In fact, most people over 65 need all three kinds of exercise: aerobics for heart and lungs (also called endurance exercise), strength training to prevent muscle loss, and balance exercises to mitigate fall risks in the elderly.

Shouldn’t there be some kind of exercise that achieves all three goals? Yes, there is. Let’s reconsider the humble and nearly lost art of walking.

Soup up the walking and it triples as a strength exercise

Admittedly, if you are running twenty miles a week, walking may not make a substantial improvement in your health. But, for those of us who are not elite athletes, walking at a brisk pace is a good endurance/cardio workout. And it’s a much safer step-up exercise for people who are out of shape or significantly overweight.

The latest research shows that mom and dad should vary the pace at which they walk. Some elderly care experts recommend going at a comfortable pace for three minutes, then accelerating for one minute, then repeating that cycle. The heart and lungs benefit the most from this pattern.

Walking at a fast enough pace to get the heart pumping will build both heart health and balance automatically. But it may not be enough to maintain muscle tone by itself. This is where mom or dad may need to soup up his or her walk by pumping hand weights and/or wearing ankle weights. Just crunching one pound barbells turns a walk into a full spectrum exercise. Elderly care experts encourage increasing the weight one presses gradually to two pounds and then to three for optimal strength maintenance.

If you have been considering home care for your parents, it’s a good idea to start it before they get too debilitated. Home care professionals can help your parents get all three forms of exercise that they need to stay healthy. And that may be as simple as just accompanying mom or dad on a nice, long walk.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Homecare in Washington Township, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Attentive Care Inc. 1-800-493-5660

Sources

https://www.nia.nih.gov/

https://www.nbcnews.com/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/

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In between these tasks, your parents can take advantage of streaming channels that are offering free months of movies, TV shows, and Broadway musicals and plays. Here are some of the offers that are available.

Acorn TV

If your parents want to watch shows that are popular in Australia, Britain, and Canada, the free month at Acorn TV is ideal. Watch the popular medical drama Doc Martin, several Agatha Christie movies and series, and gritty detective shows like Line of Duty. The promo code FREE30 is needed to get the free month.

HBO

Not everything on HBO NOW or HBO GO is going to be free, but some of the most popular shows and movies will be. For a month, people will be able to stream shows like The Sopranos, Veep, and The Wire for free. Movies like Crazy, Stupid, Love, Empire of the Sun, and Pokemon Detective Pikachu are also free.

Sling TV

Not everything at Sling TV is free, but the streaming channel is opening up some of the news channels for free streaming. You can also watch popular shows like Live PD, premium movies like Rocketman, and documentaries like Planet Wild.

The Shows Must Go On!

Andrew Lloyd Webber offers free musicals on his YouTube channel titled “The Shows Must Go On!” Each Friday, he releases another musical. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar are the first two offerings. Other musicals it’s rumored he’ll be releasing for free are Cats, Evita, and Phantom of the Opera.

Stay-at-home orders apply to everyone in non-essential fields. If you’re a family caregiver, you can go to your mom and dad’s home, but you need to make sure you’re not spreading the virus. If you’ve been in a grocery store where someone was sick, are still working, or are using public transportation to get to work, there’s a chance you could be infected.

It’s not worth the risk. Take the time to self-isolate and ensure you don’t have the virus. Two weeks is what the CDC recommends for self-quarantines. During that time, home care aides can help your parents out.

Home care services that have caregivers picking up and delivering groceries and prescriptions are helpful. Having caregivers stop by to disinfect your parents’ home, cook their meals, and verify they’re doing okay and don’t need anything will give you peace of mind.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Homecare in Cherry Hill, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Attentive Care Inc. 1-800-493-5660

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